Brewer leads black to win in Texas Tech spring game

By Evan Jansa|MRT Correspondent

Published 7:22 pm, Saturday, March 24, 2012

LUBBOCK -- A lot has changed since the last time Texas Tech played a football game.

Nearly four months after their season-ending loss to Baylor, the Red Raiders played their annual spring game at Jones AT&T Stadium. In a back-and-forth matchup, the Black squad came back against the Red, winning 25-19.

Michael Brewer led the Black team and helped to solidify his spot as the Tech's No. 2 signal caller. The Lake Travis product was an efficient 20 of 25 through the air, totaling 281 yards and two touchdowns for the Black team. Brewer repeatedly showed poise and precision with most of his snaps coming against the second-team defense.

Against the first-team defense for the majority of the afternoon, Doege, who led the Red team, completed 64 percent of his passes and one touchdown.

"I like the way Brewer handled himself," head coach Tommy Tuberville said. "(It's the) first time he's been in front of a crowd. We know what Doege can do and I expect Doege to have a good summer and get a lot of confidence and be around all those receivers for four or five months."

The former Crane quarterback completed an 18-yard fade pass to Marcus Kennard on the Red's opening possession but Doege was intercepted in the second quarter by Will Smith. The Black team capitalized to tie the game at 10, then rattled off 15 consecutive points to take a 25-10 lead.

"There was some things that I know I missed on just because I knew on the field that I messed up," Doege said. "At the same time, you're going to make mistakes. You've got to live with it, play the next play, and learn from it."

In the early stages, Brewer dealt with pressure but was given more time to throw in the second half and made the most of it.

"I just kind of treated this as just another practice with uniforms on," Brewer said. "I thought the offense performed pretty well as a whole and we're going to build on that."

There were a lot of new faces on the offensive side due to injuries suffered during last season and in spring practice. Running back Eric Stephens, as well as wide receivers Eric Ward and Alex Torres were out of the game.

Tight end Jace Amaro and running back Kenny Williams were also held out of the game.

Ronnie Daniels and SaDale Foster filled the void in the backfield. Daniels finished with 18 yards and a touchdown for the Black team and 34 additional yards for the Red.

The running backs and the rest of the offense struggled at times against the 4-3 scheme implemented by new defensive coordinator Art Kaufman, who previously coached under Tuberville at Ole Miss.

The Red team defense allowed 285 yards through the air and the Black team gave up 319. After being ranked in the bottom of the country in almost every category, a more stingy defense might be another change for Tech in the fall.

"That's the whole thing this spring that we wanted to get done is to evaluate the guys we have and what they can and try to improve on that," Kaufman said. "It takes time."